Two nights before Christmas...

Merry Christmas! As I sit here wrestling with a buttered-up toddler for my spot on the chair (who put that in his reach?!), I am really looking forward to the next few days. I love Christmas. I like getting up insanely early to watch the kids tear through their presents in record time. I miss going to the movies with one of my brothers - a tradition we enjoyed when we were old enough to drive. I like watching the kids play with their cousins. I think it's great when they actually want to leave their new toys so they can spend time with family. I wish that more of us could be together in the same place, but I have really enjoyed how the family blogs serve as a pseudo-replacement for geographic closeness.



Typing can be difficult when you've got someone kicking your head. I can't believe it isn't naptime yet...



I will try and post Christmas morning pictures relatively quickly.



One of Meadow's nicknames is bean. I think the evolution of the name went something like this - Meadow, mellow, jello, jelly, jelly bean, and then bean. So the other day I needed to help her with a coat and this was our conversation:



"Come here Bean."

"Mom, you know why it's good that I'm a bean?"

"No, why?"

"Because I fart so much!"

*laughter*



Here are some pictures from the last week.





Hunter

Meadow
River
Avery and Meadow
Christmas tree. You can see the River line (higher than we thought it would be) and the uneven lights that are constantly being rearranged by tiny hands.
Nanny and Meadow backstage in her mouse costume at the Nutcracker.

She got 44 roses after all of her performances.
Nanny and the kids.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!